In the past, others have designed and utilized ball traps for use with golf games, and one example is a patented device which utilizes a cup involving a circular disc, around the rim of which is an upstanding lip or guard in the form of a truncated cone. The lip may be formed of relatively thin, flexible rubber, and tapering to a relatively thin edge at the periphery of the combined lip and base. An approaching ball encountering the lip causes it to depress sufficient so that the ball can enter the cup and then be stopped by the lip on the opposite side. One important disadvantage of such device involves the fact that a ball approaching the trap at an angle will be caused by the steep lip to veer to one side, rather than entering the trap.
While a device of this type may be satisfactory for use with golf balls of conventional size, it would be useless for use with large lightweight balls of the size employed in accordance with the teachings of our U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,561, wherein a golf game known as "Softgolf" utilizes balls weighing approximately two ounces, which may be some five inches in diameter. This is because a trap in accordance with the teaching of the patented device that is increased in size in order to accomodate a "Softgolf" ball would necessarily have lip edges that are comparatively thick, which would mean that they might well be so resistant to the entry of a lightweight foam ball, that the ball would travel up the sloped forward edge of the trap and actually jump over the trap rather than entering it.
Another device of the prior art more nearly like the present invention in that it utilizes a plurality of upstanding flexible fingers disposed about its periphery at spaced locations is the British Pat. No. 155,711 to Patton, which uses fingers tapered slightly inward toward a common apex. Such a device, however, does not employ fingers which are designed to have column strength, such that they present an effective obstacle to the ball as it approaches the far side of the trap. Rather, the patent to Patton restrains balls from leaving by the joint action of the fingers and of the pads, hooks or the like inwardly projecting at the upper ends of the fingers.
Missing entirely from all known prior art devices is the use of turning members such that a ball approaching the trap in a relationship other than moving toward the center of the trap will turn and enter the trap properly rather than being deflected off the rim of the trap.
It was to overcome the many disadvantages of ball traps in accordance with this and other prior art that the present invention was designed.